Alright, I have postponed long enough in writing about my Bengali wedding experience! So here it is.
Wednesday was Marco and Daniela's last day in Dhaka as they decided to go back to Italy a week early. We went for lunch and spent a bit of time together, and then I had to hurry to get my hair and makeup done so I could go to the parlor near Sana's house to get my Sari put on. But, miracle of miracles, I will still there on time! To put on a Sari, you have to wear a long skirt and a little belly shirt blouse, and then the sarilady (lol) does her foldy-uppy thing and turns you around a few times, a few tucks here a few pins there and poof! You are Sari'd. Ten to fifteen minutes later. When I got to Sana's house all the family was running around with last-minute things, and the other bridesmaid equivalents all showed up looking lovely. We all sat around with the bride, who said she felt like a color palette all done up in her outfit, makeup and bells and whistles. She looked amazing, although not like herself! She really is so lovely, and is very kind. The first day we met she hugged me, and the first thing we talked about was her asking me to participate in the holud. All of the Bengalis I have met are really nice, and friendships form really quickly which is great.
We went up to the rooftop (which looked incredible! Such a huge difference from the plain cement just a few days before) and took some pictures, practiced some of the dances on the stage, and mulled around. Many of the guests had already arrived, but nothing gets started until the groom's family gets there. The groom himself doesn't actually officially attend the holud, just as Sana didn't go to his, but Jamil did crash the party later on in the evening. All his family arrived together, done up beautifully although I didn't get any good pictures of them. All the "bridesmaids" line up to greet them with candies, and I was responsible for the white beads which you give to all the men while the women get red ones. They all come with gifts for the bride and their family, so after pictures had been taken of them at the stage we took them all downstairs. So we went to Sana's house with the gifts and got the bride, who comes in under a long scarf-type thing carried by her family and friends. We brought her upstairs and then the festivities started!
Sana had made videos of her family, herself, the happy couple, and her friends. We watched all the videos, and then the dancing started! After over a month of rehearsing, we finally took to the stage for the enjoyment of the large crowd. The girls are beautiful dancers. Some songs were more serious, but some were really fun and goofy, like the one where the girls pulled up the groom's brother and danced around him and another where one of Sana's male friends was pretending to be Jamil, with his name written across his Punjabi as he danced. It was so much fun! Everyone loved the dances, and at the end asked for more! Of course no encores were prepared, so the formalities started.
I don't know all the details, but the groom's family all feeds the bride sweets and puts tumeric on her face for good luck. It was a shame to see her beautiful makeup messed up with the bright yellow, but everyone had a blast smearing it all over her face! I watched for a few minutes, but she was up there for probably close to an hour and a half so after a few minutes we all went to eat. The meal was traditional Bengali food, a rice and chicken dish you eat with your hands and some sweet rice and other goodies. There was also fresh coffee. People started to leave at this point, maybe around 11:30 or midnight. Everything was done by about 1 am, and Sana emerged from her bathroom all cleaned off, a totally different person! As a lot of her family was staying at their house, she and I and four other girls all slept in the parlor on a mat on the floor, with two on the couches. The girls talked late into the night. Sana wasn't planning to sleep as she still had to prepare a lot of the gifts for Jamil's holud the next day, but she fell asleep. Not that I can blame her! She was exhausted, and said she could sympathize with the brides on shows like Bridezilla. When I woke up around 5 am, one of her best friends was up decorating candles with jewels. The other girls went home in their PJs probably between 9 an 10, and Sana and I snoozed a bit longer. Her family came into the parlor to look at all the gifts, so I got up and we all chatted about the differences between theirs and Western weddings and lifestyles, which was a great discussion but I think one I will keep private. She and I ate breakfast as she was decorating some gifts, and then she went into her room when her in-laws arrived with her beautiful wedding jewelery as they aren't supposed to see her until the wedding after the holud. I kept trying to leave, to no avail! Her family loves company, and loves to feed their guests, so I had breakfast, goodies and lunch all before finally leaving at almost 1:30 pm.
As I mentioned, the bride doesn't go to the groom's holud and vice versa, so I didn't end up going to Jamil's holud as I didn't really know anyone who was going. The Friday of the wedding, I went to a spa near Sana's house, just down the street from the Australian Rosie's flat where I was planning to sleep that night. She hired a car for the evening, so I ended up just coming back to Mirpur but I got ready at her place. I had an awesome massage and a facial, and also got my hair done which all cost me less than 30 bucks... with great service! Wouldn't it be nice if that kind of deal existed in Canada?
The wedding hall was done beautifully, and waiters served each table as guests sat down to eat so you didn't have to wait for the food at all. There were hundreds of people and I only got to see Sana for a minute or two, and we didn't end up staying that long. I got to wear another Sari though, and it was nice to see all my new friends again.
That's about it I think, I will add pictures to this post later on but my internet is being very slow. Love you all!
Lesley
Wednesday was Marco and Daniela's last day in Dhaka as they decided to go back to Italy a week early. We went for lunch and spent a bit of time together, and then I had to hurry to get my hair and makeup done so I could go to the parlor near Sana's house to get my Sari put on. But, miracle of miracles, I will still there on time! To put on a Sari, you have to wear a long skirt and a little belly shirt blouse, and then the sarilady (lol) does her foldy-uppy thing and turns you around a few times, a few tucks here a few pins there and poof! You are Sari'd. Ten to fifteen minutes later. When I got to Sana's house all the family was running around with last-minute things, and the other bridesmaid equivalents all showed up looking lovely. We all sat around with the bride, who said she felt like a color palette all done up in her outfit, makeup and bells and whistles. She looked amazing, although not like herself! She really is so lovely, and is very kind. The first day we met she hugged me, and the first thing we talked about was her asking me to participate in the holud. All of the Bengalis I have met are really nice, and friendships form really quickly which is great.
We went up to the rooftop (which looked incredible! Such a huge difference from the plain cement just a few days before) and took some pictures, practiced some of the dances on the stage, and mulled around. Many of the guests had already arrived, but nothing gets started until the groom's family gets there. The groom himself doesn't actually officially attend the holud, just as Sana didn't go to his, but Jamil did crash the party later on in the evening. All his family arrived together, done up beautifully although I didn't get any good pictures of them. All the "bridesmaids" line up to greet them with candies, and I was responsible for the white beads which you give to all the men while the women get red ones. They all come with gifts for the bride and their family, so after pictures had been taken of them at the stage we took them all downstairs. So we went to Sana's house with the gifts and got the bride, who comes in under a long scarf-type thing carried by her family and friends. We brought her upstairs and then the festivities started!
Sana had made videos of her family, herself, the happy couple, and her friends. We watched all the videos, and then the dancing started! After over a month of rehearsing, we finally took to the stage for the enjoyment of the large crowd. The girls are beautiful dancers. Some songs were more serious, but some were really fun and goofy, like the one where the girls pulled up the groom's brother and danced around him and another where one of Sana's male friends was pretending to be Jamil, with his name written across his Punjabi as he danced. It was so much fun! Everyone loved the dances, and at the end asked for more! Of course no encores were prepared, so the formalities started.
I don't know all the details, but the groom's family all feeds the bride sweets and puts tumeric on her face for good luck. It was a shame to see her beautiful makeup messed up with the bright yellow, but everyone had a blast smearing it all over her face! I watched for a few minutes, but she was up there for probably close to an hour and a half so after a few minutes we all went to eat. The meal was traditional Bengali food, a rice and chicken dish you eat with your hands and some sweet rice and other goodies. There was also fresh coffee. People started to leave at this point, maybe around 11:30 or midnight. Everything was done by about 1 am, and Sana emerged from her bathroom all cleaned off, a totally different person! As a lot of her family was staying at their house, she and I and four other girls all slept in the parlor on a mat on the floor, with two on the couches. The girls talked late into the night. Sana wasn't planning to sleep as she still had to prepare a lot of the gifts for Jamil's holud the next day, but she fell asleep. Not that I can blame her! She was exhausted, and said she could sympathize with the brides on shows like Bridezilla. When I woke up around 5 am, one of her best friends was up decorating candles with jewels. The other girls went home in their PJs probably between 9 an 10, and Sana and I snoozed a bit longer. Her family came into the parlor to look at all the gifts, so I got up and we all chatted about the differences between theirs and Western weddings and lifestyles, which was a great discussion but I think one I will keep private. She and I ate breakfast as she was decorating some gifts, and then she went into her room when her in-laws arrived with her beautiful wedding jewelery as they aren't supposed to see her until the wedding after the holud. I kept trying to leave, to no avail! Her family loves company, and loves to feed their guests, so I had breakfast, goodies and lunch all before finally leaving at almost 1:30 pm.
As I mentioned, the bride doesn't go to the groom's holud and vice versa, so I didn't end up going to Jamil's holud as I didn't really know anyone who was going. The Friday of the wedding, I went to a spa near Sana's house, just down the street from the Australian Rosie's flat where I was planning to sleep that night. She hired a car for the evening, so I ended up just coming back to Mirpur but I got ready at her place. I had an awesome massage and a facial, and also got my hair done which all cost me less than 30 bucks... with great service! Wouldn't it be nice if that kind of deal existed in Canada?
The wedding hall was done beautifully, and waiters served each table as guests sat down to eat so you didn't have to wait for the food at all. There were hundreds of people and I only got to see Sana for a minute or two, and we didn't end up staying that long. I got to wear another Sari though, and it was nice to see all my new friends again.
That's about it I think, I will add pictures to this post later on but my internet is being very slow. Love you all!
Lesley
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